Time Refrain
by AkireXx
Summary: An original story about something.


There was once a young boy born named Ezreth. This young boy in particular was born into the royal family of his land. His father had fought his way to leadership as he was known to be a triumphant war hero. His father had avenged the land after it had been taken over by enemy crusades. The young boy had never taken into account that his father had worked hard to gain such power. For this very reason is why the boy took everything for granted.

His father was far too busy to teach him the values of hard work as he was bothered with the kingdom's affairs. Ezreth's mother was almost nonexistent to him for he had never seen her or even knew her name.

At the age of fourteen Ezreth was expected to begin following his father's footsteps by learning about the kingdom and how to run it. Suddenly things took an unexpected turn when his father became brutally ill in late spring. The kingdom's finest doctors could not find out what the King's illness was caused by. The symptoms got worse by the day. For the first weeks it only seemed like a bad fever but then after many weeks his father started to show signs of insanity.

Sometimes he would peek into his father's chamber and heard him talking to someone. Although when Ezreth would look, no one was there. He was very determined to find out whom this person he was talking to was. It was almost driving Ezreth himself insane. His father's words were those of mourning and sorrow. He seemed to be missing something.

One night in particular while Ezreth was making his way to retire he heard his father's voice as he usually did when going to his chamber.

"Delia? Is that you? Oh how I have missed you. The sun has passed and gone had I last seen you. You have been arriving pertinently, my dear. Why do you visit me in my darkest hours? Where are you arriving from? My time is dwindling away it seems and I have yet to see your face. All I hear is the echo of your voice in my head."

His father paused for a long time as if he was listening for a response. Ezreth heard nothing even though his father continued to respond to the mute voice.

The young boy walked away to his room and put out the lamp's fire. He went to his bed and did not get a wink of sleep. Ezreth stayed awake for what seemed to be days, contemplating the name he had heard his father speak of.

Who is Delia?

As the hours passed on Ezreth began to notice that the sun ceased to peek over the horizon as it usually does. The sun was nonexistent to him, it was dark for so long and he was in his own world as it seemed. No one could interrupt his tranquil state. Everything around him fell silent and nothing moved in his realm. Even the river's flow could not be heard in the darkness that he dwelled in. No wolves howled in the night and no roaster crowed at dawn. His eyes began to grow weary as the eternal time ticked back into what seemed to be his normal whereabouts. Ezreth's conscience stayed with him as he drifted off to sleep. The thoughts of who this person his father spoke of never seemed to leave his head and when his eyes were just flickering closed he could've sworn he saw his lamp strike up.

The young boy woke up from his elongated slumber, finding that the sun had still not risen over the horizon. The roaster did not crow nor did the wolf cry to the moon. Ezreth treaded from his bed groggily and began to look around through the castle isles. From further inspection he soon realized his father nor was anyone in the castle to be found. Where were the guards, the royal council, or the servants? Most importantly where was his father?

How would he tell his people that their leader was gone? Maybe his father just left temporarily in an attempt to find another doctor and took the company of his men to watch over him. He'll be back. His father would never just up and leave him. He needed his father. Ezreth knew he couldn't last all his own. He never really kept up with his studies or paid attention to how his father ran the kingdom. Before the age of fourteen the thought never even occurred to him that he would have to run the kingdom. That was never the boy's problem; all he had to do was stay in the castle and wait for his father to come back. He would be back because he always comes back. Even when his father went away to other kingdom's in other lands, he always returned. No one had to reassure him of this. Neither the guards nor the servants had to remind him that his father would return because he knew that being alone was not an option for him.

Ezreth returned to his room and closed the door, locking it tightly. He lit up the lamp that had always been by his bedside since he was a small boy and lay down soundly in his bed. The window he looked out of at night still showed through the moonlight of the night. The sun never came nor did it matter. His father's return was all that he cared for in his tranquil state of mind. Many days passed, the days turned to weeks and Ezreth's mental state seemed to be fading away each day. Each day he would awake and look helplessly for his father as he did the first day, saying the same mantra.

"Father…Father…?"

His voice seemed to weaken each passing cycle of searching.

His stride slowed down but his hope never seemed to change. His father would come back for him and he was sure of it. His hunger for food and his crippling thirst could not corrupt this echoing thought. He was sure that nothing could change. His father would be back for him and they would be together again.

As the days went on Ezreth's people disappeared. Not only was the castle vacant but so was his father's beloved kingdom. Person by person suddenly faded away with each passing day. Woman, men, young, and old would disappear each rising moon. The sun would pass the horizon frequently, almost as if it never went down at all yet the moon would show up occasionally. The moon would pass the lonely prince's dreaded kingdom and with each cycle he would one become more lonely.

One day in particular when the moon was passing over, Ezreth, the now young man, heard a voice call to him silently. He could hear it clearly though and it sounded almost familiar, it sounded comforting. His loneliness was broken for this time being as it felt for the time being as if he was the only person alive. He had not interacted with anyone since the disappearance. The single word it spoke echoed through his head.

"Child."

Every step Ezreth took making his round of searching he heard this word. He didn't know if the child was him or if the person speaking was a child but he was ever so curious to know who beckoned to him this night.

"Child."

Who was calling to him at such a melancholy hour of the moon's rise?

The young man departed from his own whereabouts and headed to his father's old chamber. He tried to avoid this area of the abandoned castle because it reminded him of his absent father. Although he had aged from being a young boy to a young man Ezreth could never give up hope.

His father loved him and he would return in due time, even if Ezreth had to wait for him a whole eternity.

He made his way into the empty room to which no one vacated other than the eerie aura that it gave off and the cobwebs that grew over dark corners. There was no light here.

"Child."

The voice, no longer a whisper, could be heard clearly enough to where Ezreth almost felt as if it was his own conscience. It was defiantly woman's voice, he could tell. His longing though, wanted it to be his father calling to him. He wanted it to be his father coming back to him and wondering where his son was. Ezreth continued to lurk along the old room, looking for the person who called for him.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" Ezreth said nervously after some time of exploration.

One again the word he had been hearing was echoed to him.

The young man turned around becoming rather frantic as the voice treaded behind his response. The light he had seen years ago had arisen to his open vision almost like the moonlight that shown through his own window in the night. The brightness was overwhelming, blinding one could say. It did not hurt him at all though. He could see nothing but felt safer than he has in a very long time.

He heard crying.

"Ezreth? Why won't you wake up son…please wake up? It has been so long since we have seen you. You seem to have abandoned us so. We need you, everyone is missing you so. You're father and I have been awaiting your return for so many days now and it is hard to see you like this each passing day."

Ezreth could not comprehend the woman's words. They did not make sense to him; he had not been away for a long time. What does she mean by abandonment? Ezreth had been alone for so long and has been awaiting his father's return. Everyone had left him behind and he was the only one alive here. This place was all his own and no one seeked him here.

His thoughts raced through his head but as soon as the light faded away Ezreth felt himself pull back into a new consciousness. A beeping sound amerced his train of thought and it drowned out everything he was once focused on. He could not move nor could he speak. The young man felt weak but renewed. Frantic voices began to fill the noise out as well, along with the bustling sound of people. Who was there and what was going on exactly?

Ezreth's eyes slowly flickered open and all he saw was bright orbs of some sort that produced an overglowing light. There was a woman overlooking him whose face never ceased to smile though tears drew from her bagged eyes. Others ran around him in rather odd uniformed outfits. They had mask covering their mouths as they spoke frantically to one another about such things that where undecipherable by him.

The woman looked down at him with the same smile she had before and kneeled next to his side, running a hand atop his head.

"You..You finally woke up my dearest child. "


End file.
